I presented at a Martech conference this week and at the end of the presentation in the section on questions somebody asked me what the optimum size of content was?

I said it depends on the objective of the content, for example we write short content so it's read and drives us inbound which gets us revenue.

I'm aware of company that have white papers written as the are measuring downloads.

My answer to the question was it should be 300 to 500 words. He said his marketing agency had advised him that long form content was the way to go, 2000, words was their recommendation. I pointed out four things:-

Long form is all very well but you only remember one thing, from such an article, so why not have multiple short form articles?

While a person may download a white paper we usually put it in the file on our desk to called "to read when we are dead". A download does not mean a person has a read it.

If I send you a short form article, you will read it now, if I send you a long form article, it goes in the same file as item 2.

The final point was, maybe the marketing agency earned more by saying this. I know this seems cynical but maybe just maybe a company is trying to profit from somebody's naivety. #justsaying

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In a recent survey by Grist, senior executives were asked what qualities were most valuable in thought leadership content. The three most favored attributes identified by survey respondents were fresh thinking, forward-thinking, and evidence-led.